Address by the President of the Republic, Michel Temer, during the ceremony of Inauguration of the Photo Gallery of former São Paulo Public Security Secretaries - São Paulo/SP

São Paulo/SP, 7 December 2018

Every time I have to speak publicly, they put a written speech in front of me, don't they? But I feel that this is no time for a written speech, it's time to reveal extraordinary gratitude.

And to do so I want to salute my friend, Governor Geraldo Alckmin,

Fleury,

Covas, mayor,

Mágino,

Alexandre,

I will salute only the panel here in front by name, and on their behalf extend the greeting to all our friends in attendance.

By the way, I must say that, here, I am among equals, so it is a privilege to be granted the floor at this time. I say "equals" because here we are, inaugurating this gallery, the result of this very fortunate idea by Secretary Mágino. Because a portrait, in fact, helps eternalising people. We, many times, we remember those who have gone through the various positions, but it is interesting, physically, when you see the picture on the wall... I just saw mine, and thank you very much, because you put in a current picture of me. If the picture was one from 1984, I would look very young. But the portrait really perpetuates people, so I want to compliment Mágino and say that I am very grateful for the invitation and for this inauguration.

And I also want to note the fact that Alexandre pointed out, quite correctly, that we, in the federal area, had, so to speak, the boldness to venture into the area of public security. Now, it is interesting how this boldness was precisely born out of my tenures ahead of the Secretariat of Public Security in the Montoro and Fleury administrations. Of course, that experience, it gets embedded in our spirit, and we take it to every administrative sector.

And really, when I arrived at the Presidency of the Republic and, with the acquiescence of Governor Geraldo Alckmin, invited Alexandre to be Minister of Justice, we soon added the word Security. We created the Ministry of Justice and Public Security, on the grounds that Public Security was fundamental to the country. Therefore, another factor mobilising the idea that came later and that I implemented, to create a Ministry of Public Security, was also very much influenced, so to speak, by Alexandre's work. Because Alexandre, despite

being Minister of Justice, with so many, many tasks, dedicated special attention to public security in Brazil. In fact, as I said, he travelled through all the states and then left us to hold positions perhaps as important as the one he occupied over time.

And this really was the driving force that led me to create the Ministry of Public Security, always attentive, of course, to the constitutional text. I know that public security is essentially the responsibility of the federated states. But when we created the Ministry of Public Security, we did it based on the precept that it would only coordinate public security works and integrate the various public security sectors of the Brazilian Federation. Particularly, as Alexandre recalls, in the area of intelligence, because it was incredible...

As you know, there are various federal departments that take care of intelligence, and that is a defect of our political culture. Even in the federal area, each sector did not relay information to the other intelligence sector. We ended up unifying the intelligence sector in the federal area.

And we went on to say that, by integrating all of the country's public security bodies, we will especially integrate intelligence services. And that is what has been done. A great success, by the way. It is not without reason that the Ministry of Public Security has promoted, with the assistance of state public security forces, several national operations with great success.

So I feel very rewarded. In fact, I think it was, somehow - Alexander remembers it well - it was a daring act to create the Ministry of Public Security. But my government was a government that dared. When I created the public spending ceiling, you know... Governor Geraldo Alckmin, who shone in the government of the state of São Paulo, as Luiz Antônio Fleury Filho had done before, you know how difficult it is to manage without spending, but that is what they did. And that is why the state government has succeeded in recent times.

But every ruler wants nothing more than to have no limits, no reigns, no controls over public spending. We, differently, think of Brazil, and therefore we think of practising acts now to be recognised later on.

I'll even make an aside here. It is one thing to be known. You can be known. Being recognised is something else. Being Recognised is when you, known as you are, become, so to say, exalted. And we really seek recognition, therefore, not in immediatist populist acts, because populist acts generate applause today and boos tomorrow. The acts I call popular, which are those that address issues of the State, are those that are not understood today, but are applauded tomorrow. And this is what we have done. It was not without reason that we had the audacity to approve the public spending ceiling, we had the audacity to do the upper secondary education reform, we had the audacity to undertake the labour modernisation, we had the audacity to help State-Owned Enterprises recover, we had the audacity to reduce Brazil's interest rates, we had the audacity to bring down inflation. Today, by the way, as I was coming here, dear governors, I read the news of 0.25 deflation. Therefore, inflation is falling, it is below 4, when the target is 4.5.

But what I want to record right now, aside from the numbers I'm quickly mentioning, is the joy of being, say, eternalised by this beautiful idea.

And if I may say something very personal... I remember, Governor Geraldo Alckmin, at Governor Montoro's time, I was the State Prosecutor General. He called me. You see how public life is... I'm going to tell you this episode. He called me and said, "Look, Temer, you" - we were past 'The Honourable Secretary' at this point - "you are going to be Secretary of Public Security." I got scared. I said, "Governor, I do not understand anything about criminal law, I know a little of constitutional law." He said, "No, but you have a way, that thing... Civil Police, State Police, joining everybody, you got a talent for it." Then I tried one last argument. And I said, "Governor, I don't even know where the Secretariat of Public Security is." He told me, "Look, just drop by José Carlos Dias's house and he will tell you”.

But I confess, and here I am concluding my remarks... When I arrived at the Secretariat of Public Security, Alexandre, Mágino... I, in my first week, I confess that I was terrified. I said: "I have nothing to do with this. I don't know how I'm going to behave." And and then when Saturday afternoon came, in my head, I thought... "I think I'm going to get to Governor Montoro on Monday and say I'll leave". But then I said to myself, "My God, it will be the third Secretary of Security in nine months. Besides that, besides harming the administration, I'll harm myself." But I was already convinced. Very well. That night – and you see the hand of God here – that’s night, I'm listening to an interview with Gianfrancesco Guarnieri, who had been appointed Secretary of Culture, something like that, and the interviewer asks him, Alexandre: "Look, Mr. Guarnieri, how does it work in your head? You wear polo shirts, no pomp and circumstance, without any formality. Now, "Your Excellency", suit and tie, place at the table. How does that work in your head?" And he answered, looking at me, who was watching: "look, life is also a performance. You have to play the role that life gives you well ". I said: "Wow, I need to play the role of Security Secretary". I called the Chief General [of the Civil Police] and the commander of the State Police on Monday and began to play the role that life had assigned to me.

I play my role modestly, but I think that those who followed me have played their role so grandly, so grandly, that we have now arrived at Mágino, haven't we? And here, when I praise Mágino, I am mentioning all those who preceded him to say what has been said here in the gallery: public security has greatly improved in the state of São Paulo because of this extraordinary administrative complex that, over time, has become public security.

And above all – here is the testimony of those who preside over the Republic today –, we act in public security strongly grounded on the example the state of São Paulo and, in particular, the secretaries honoured here have given to the President of the Republic.

My compliments.